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Rule 73: Gerunds and Gerundives

We continue learning about verbal nouns and adjectives by exploring the use of gerunds and gerundives in the genitive, dative, accusative, and ablative cases. The gerund is a noun and the gerundive is an adjective, and their translation (especially that of the gerundive) can be a bit more idiomatic than literal. This video will discuss the differences between these two forms, when Latin prefers to use each, and how we can show purpose with these words.

91 rules of grammar adjectives nouns verbs

Rule 72: The Relative Time of Participles

Participles in Latin have three tenses: present, perfect, and future. But these terms can be misleading, because they don't refer to the absolute time of the participle, but how the participle time relates to the tense of the main verb. The present participle shows an action that is in progress when the main verb occurs (some call it "same time"). The perfect participle shows an action that is already completed when the main verb happens (some call this "time before"). The future participle shows an action that is yet to occur when the main verb happens (some call this "time after"). But while these tense names can be confusing, the more you work with participles, the easier they get to understand.

91 rules of grammar adjectives participles

Future Passive Participles

The future passive participle, also known as the gerundive, is used in the passive periphrastic in order to express obligation or necessity (often with a dative of agent), and also in gerundive phrases. This video explores how this participle is formed and how it is used with specific and detailed examples.

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Adiectīvī Latīnē (Adjectives in Latin)

Sunt trēs modī adiectīvōrum. In hōc, dēscrībō hōs adiectīvōs: alta, altior, et altissima. Spero te frui hoc! (There are three types of adjectives. In this, I describe these adjectives: alta, high, altior, higher, and altissima, highest. I hope you enjoy this!) Note: this video uses the classical pronunciation of Latin, as best as I can make it. Please refrain from criticisms about pronunciation in the comments section! Gratias maximas! Images used in this video: bird flying by Icons Producer from the Noun Project river by sarah from the Noun Project

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Comparative Adjectives

If you want to compare two objects, you will want to use an adjective in the comparative degree. This video discusses not only how comparatives in Latin are formed, but also how this degree is used, both in comparisons and in general. I hope this video is better than my average one!

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Superlative Adjectives

Adjectives, like the nouns that they describe, have case, number, and gender. But in addition to this, they have something called degree, which denote the steps on the ladder of comparison, like deep, deeper, and deepest. This video covers how Latin adjectives form the superlative, the highest degree, and how the superlative is used. It's not just -issimus and -est!

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Colōrēs Latīnē (Colors in Latin)

Sunt multi colores in lingua Latina. In hoc, describo quinque colors picturis: ruber, flavus/fulvus/luteus, viridis, caeruleus, et purpureus. Spero te frui hoc! (There are many colors in Latin. In this, I describe five colors with pictures: red, yellow, green, blue, and purple. I hope you enjoy this!) Note: this video uses the classical pronunciation of Latin, as best as I can make it. Please refrain from criticisms about pronunciation in the comments section! Gratias maximas!

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The Colors of Latin

I teach the Latin of classical Rome, and its color system is a little different from what we have in many languages today. The primary color groups of Latin are red, yellow, green, and blue, and this video discusses both what terms are used for these colors, and why Latin doesn't seem to have terms for other colors like orange, violet, and brown.

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Rule 56: The Ablative with dignus and indignus

This video is a sequel to rule 55, since the adjectives dignus and indignus take an ablative of respect (also known as the ablative of specification), to show what something is worth (or unworthy) of. I hope this video is worthy of your time, and I'm worthy of your views!

91 rules of grammar adjectives cases nouns

Rule 46: Comparisons with Quam

We will take a break from our review of the ablative case to look a bit more closely at comparisons. We previously had learned about how the ablative case can be used to show comparison, but quam, meaning "than", is much more common and useful in this regard. This video covers all the uses of quam with the comparative, and is meant to be paired with rule number 45, on the ablative of comparison.

91 rules of grammar adjectives cases nouns

Rule 33: The Dative with Adjectives

The final use of the dative case in the 91 Rules series is when the dative is used after certain adjectives. This video covers which adjectives, and why it really makes sense from the meaning of the adjective itself.

91 rules of grammar adjectives nouns

Rule 21: The Genitive with Adjectives

The genitive case is also used with adjectives denoting desire, knowledge, memory, fullness, power, sharing, guilt, and their opposites, participles when used as plain adjectives, and adjectives ending in -āx (like tenāx and capāx). Whew, that's a mouthful. Why not watch this video and learn more?

91 rules of grammar adjectives cases nouns

Rule 10: What Adverbs Modify

Adverbs in Latin and English do more than just modify verbs (although that is where you will see them mostly). An adverb can also modify adjectives and even other adverbs. I'll show you how in this video.

91 rules of grammar adjectives verbs

Rule 7: Possessive Adjectives and the Genitive

We run into a bit of a problem when we want to use an adjective to modify a possessive adjective, since the personal pronoun can't be used to show possession. So instead we take that adjective and put it into the genitive case so that it agrees with the implied pronoun. It's a bit of complicated grammar, but I hope I did a good job of explaining it well.

91 rules of grammar adjectives nouns

Rule 6: Possession with Pronouns

The genitive of possession is not used with personal pronouns. That is, you would never describe something like this, "the house of me" (domus meī). Instead to show possession, we use the possessive adjective. So "my house" (domus mea).

91 rules of grammar adjectives nouns

Rule 5: The Third Person Reflexive Pronoun

The third person pronoun suī, sibi, sē, sē is used only when we are referring to the (third person) subject. And related to this pronoun is the possessive adjective suus, -a, -um, which likewise refers back to the (third person) subject.

91 rules of grammar adjectives nouns

Rule 3: Some Adjectives Describe Part of their Noun

The third rule of Latin grammar is that some adjectives describe just part of their noun. These adjectives are primarily superlatives, like summus or ultimus, but also include medius, ceterus, and reliquus. It's best to translate them with "of" or "part of".

91 rules of grammar adjectives

Rule 2: Noun-Adjective Agreement

The second rule of Latin grammar is that adjectives will agree with the nouns they describe in case, number, and gender. But this rule can lead to some interesting situations, and allows for great flexibility in Latin word order. From here comes some of the great beauty of poetry.

91 rules of grammar adjectives nouns

The Naughty Nine, UNUS NAUTA, or Pronominal Adjectives

There is a set of adjectives in the first and second declension that doesn't quite follow the standard set of rules. We call these pronominal adjectives, because they function more like pronouns than describers. But you can refer to them as the Naughty Nine, or with the mnemonic UNUS NAUTA.

adjectives feminine first declension masculine neuter second declension

Future Active Participles

The future active participle puts the U R in future. You will also find that this participle is used in the active periphrastic, a substitute for the future tense and also used in many situations where the future cannot happen.

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Introduction to the Latin Adjective

Adjectives add color and pizzaz to a sentence, and you can't have a Cicero without adjectives. This video covers the basic essentials to learning about how adjectives work in Latin, while leaving the specifics about declension for other videos.

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Perfect Passive Participles

The perfect passive participle is the fourth principal part of the Latin verb. This video covers the formation and use of Latin's past participle, with only one bad joke about James Bond's martinis.

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Participles in Latin

The participle in Latin is exceptionally important, even more so than it is in English. This video reviews the four participles of a standard verb: the present active, perfect passive, future active, and future passive (the gerundive), along with discussing how deponent verbs form their four participles.

active voice adjectives participles passive voice verbs

iste, ista, istud

The demonstrative iste, ista, istud has a lot in common with its cousin ille, illa, illud: both mean "that", both are declined in an almost identical fashion. But iste carries with it a second person nature that sometimes can be negative. That brother of yours, that video of yours...

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ille, illa, illud

That is a lot like this. This video covers the declension and use the demonstrative ille, illa, illud. That is the word which gives us the il, el, elle, le, la, los, les, and and las of the Romance languages.

adjectives feminine masculine neuter nouns

Present Participles

The Latin present participle puts the NT in present. This video covers the formation and use of the present participle. It's not just all -ings (although that may be the easiest for you).

active voice adjectives participles verbs

hic, haec, hoc

*This* video teaches the Latin word for "this" in all of its wonderful forms and parts of speech. hic, haec, hoc is not just a good (and popular) demonstrative adjective, but it has many substantive (noun-like) and adverbial uses.

adjectives feminine masculine neuter nouns

Numbers in Latin

Numbers in Latin are as easy as one-two-three, except that the numbers one, two, and three are declined to match the same case, number, and gender as the noun they are describing. This video covers Latin cardinal numbers, the numbers we use to count.

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is, ea, id

The word is, ea, id serves double duty as both a demonstrative adjective ("that") and the third person pronoun ("he, she, it" etc.). It may be little, but its size betrays its power and importance.

adjectives feminine masculine neuter nouns

Ablative Absolutes

Ablative absolutes are a peculiar and unique use of the ablative case, not necessarily found in English today. With this video watched (or after this video is watched), you will be able to understand and translate ablative absolutes into properly-sounding, modern English.

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Third Declension Adjectives

Much like their first and second declension counterparts, third declension endings modify nouns, with which they agree in three ways: case, number, and gender. It's just that these adjectives have third declension endings, and that there are three different types of these adjectives.

adjectives feminine masculine neuter third declension

First and Second Declension Adjectives

Adjectives are always bothersome. We know they describe nouns, but in Latin they take the same case, number, and gender as the noun they modify. This can be easy if the nouns is of the same declension, but a bit more tricky if we cross declensions, where a 1st/2nd declension adjective modifies a 3rd declension noun: magnus leo.

adjectives feminine first declension masculine neuter second declension

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